In the Swachh Survekshan, Indore has swept up the title for cleanest city in India for the fifth consecutive time. For the unversed, the Swachh Survekshan is a survey exercise which gauges the rural and urban centres across nation for its cleanliness, hygiene, and sanitation. It also ranks cities and states in their implementation of the Swachh mission initiatives and how innovatively these cities fulfil the initiatives.

Since the past 4 years, Indore has gained the reputation of being the cleanest city in India. This in turn has incentivized the locals to proactively work towards keeping the city clean and hygienic. As per the 2021 survey, Indore continues to be the cleanest city in India and is trailed by Surat.

Background

Since Prime Minister Modi introduced the Swachh Bharat mission in 2014 as many as 9.2 crore toilets were built in rural locations. Further, the government also labelled all 28 states and UTs as open defecation free.

Meanwhile, for cleanliness, several cities also had door-to-door waste collection vehicles which blared songs on cleanliness to trigger a behavioural change in people. Madhya Pradesh’s Indore’s waste collection vehicle had a special song every year since the past 5 years. The last song was titled – Punch Lagayega Indore (a pun to highlight that India will be the cleanest city the fifth year).

And that’s exactly what happened. For the 5th time, its been declared the cleanest Indian city.


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The Facts of the Matter

On Saturday, November 20, 2021, India President Ram Nath Kovind felicitated the Swachh Survekshan Awards at the Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The event came under the ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav’ umbrella.

The Swachh Survekshan was launched for the first time in 2016 as part of the government’s Clean India initiative. In 2021, as many as 4,320 cities came under the lenses for the survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation. This was the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey, according to reports.

President Ram Nath Kovind awarded Madhya Pradesh’s Indore the ‘Swachhata ka Taaj’, declaring it the cleanest city in India. This is the fifth time the to-be metro city of Madhya Pradesh has clinched the title.

Meanwhile, Indore got a tough fight from Surat, which grabbed the second position and Vijayawada, which received the third position this year. Interestingly, both Surat and Vijayawada got ‘5 Star’ certification under the SMART framework’s Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free Cities.


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How Are Cities Ranked Under the Swachh Survekshan?

The cities are ranked based on the marks it receives from a total of 6,000 marks. The weightage of the marks is – 1,500 marks from citizen’s feedback, 1,500 marks from direct feedback, 1,500 marks from service level progress and remaining 1,500 marks from certification.

The citizen’s feedback is collected through multiple sources including the vote for your city application designed for the MoHUA.

Top 10 Cleanest Cities in India As Per Swachh Sarvekshan 2021

  • Indore
  • Surat
  • Vijayawada
  • Navi Mumbai
  • Pune
  • Raipur
  • Bhopal
  • Vadodara
  • Visakhapatnam
  • Ahmedabad

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Prominent Netizens Applaud for Indore on Twitter

Meanwhile after the announcement, prominent netizens took to Twitter to congratulate the citizens of Indore and its administration.

Union Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri took to Twitter and wrote, “Indore is India’s cleanest city for the 5th year in a row. Heartiest congratulations to the people, political leadership, Municipal Corporation, Swachhagrahis & Safaimitras for their exemplary commitment towards keeping the city on top.”

Novelist and columnist Chetan Bhagat shared a picture of a clean road of Indore and compared it to clean streets found internationally. In his tweet, Bhagat wrote, “This isn’t abroad. This is Indore, MP in India. Voted the cleanest city in India Swachh Sarvekshan 2018. And you can see why. Well done to all the residents.”

Similar congratulatory tweets have been pouring since the announcement.